kate-hers RHEE
Berlin, Germany
interdisciplinary artist
“…[T]he city is still bustling with activity. Berliners are famous for their rebellious nature and many haven’t heeded the social distancing advice, going to ‘coronavirus parties’ and hanging out with crowds at the park.”
Wish You Weren’t Here (Turkish Market), 2020, single-channel video, HD, color, sound, 16:9, 09:50, © kate-hers RHEE/VG Bildkunst, Bonn, 2020
The Series Wish You Weren’t Here evokes the East Meets West self-portrait series of Chinese American artist Tseng Kwong Chi. Like Tseng, kate-hers RHEE playfully and politically occupies the role of the Other and the perpetual foreigner, posing as a tourist in front of these iconic Berlin places of interest. However, there is more at stake performing Asian tourist during the time of the coronavirus. Dubbed the Chinese coronavirus by right wing media and the president of the United States, the virus continues to be associated with yellow peril, while anti-Asian hate crimes are increasing across the United States and Europe.
In addition, RHEE’s wearing a N95 mask in a city where many of its inhabitants seem oblivious to the danger of infection is akin to wearing a bullseye on her back; some laugh or stare uneasily, some even yell racist insults. Wearing neon green rubber gloves while using a selfie stick to photograph herself alone, she looks serious and vulnerable. RHEE takes her lone tour around to the city sights, curiously empty of tourists. Her selfies in front of well known landmarks seem silly with an additional peace sign, which became popular all over East Asia in the 1980s; the videos in the series deal more with the topic of xenophobia in an explicit manner. Both Turks and Jews, who have historically been seen as outsiders in Germany, play roles by their presence and absence in the backdrop of the artist’s video performances. In the video, Wish You Weren’t Here (Turkish Market), RHEE silently wanders through the entire Maybachufer open air market, unresponsive to several verbal interactions.
